Starship Scarwolf

A fun, simple arcade shooter, done in the style of old vector/raster arcade games like Tac/Scan or Asteroids. The main mode is campaign, where you embark on a series of missions with a win/lose state, the win usually being "Blow up the big red thing on the radar" and lose being "have the big green dot your ship launches from blow up". Gameplay is a simple topdown affair where you navigate a frequently cramped map by launching from a base and blowing up stuff for points and also added "incentive" or bonus points at the end of a mission. You move in all directions, it's not locked to horizontal or vertical. The points you get from missions can be spent on mid-mission resupply of shields and energy, your hitpoints. They can also be used to buy weapons, ammunition, ships, and docks for the ships. You start out in an outdated fighter with pea shooter blasters. It doesn't even have a slot for armor or remote control weapons, meaning you need to upgrade to a bigger ship if you want more weapons, tools, or upgrades. In the absence of actual money, you can take a loan which will result in your bonus pay being used to pay your debt, so you can experience financial destitution in video games as well as in real life. It's fun but not particularly deep, a good lunch break game. That said, there are several notes I have: [list] [*] The camera is zoomed in way too close. You can have a pixel offset to follow the nose and show the path ahead of your craft, but sometimes you have to aim using the radar. Wish I could zoom out. [*] The "Edge of Operational Area" autopilot is oppressive and goes off before you close to the edge of the map. It should only go off AFTER you leave the area! [*] Everything has their stats listed, but a way to test weapons and loadouts would be appreciated considering how missions start in the middle of action. [*] Nested menus are confusing! You buy weapons that have ammo, but to reload ammo you exit the dock (where you mounted the weapon), enter the resupply menu, and discover that rearming 300 cannon shots costs 3 times your entire bank account! Why can't I buy a brick of 30 cannon rounds or something? [*] The game doesn't tell you that your shields and energy are restored on mission completion, meaning you don't have to buy Energy or Shields if you know you can make it back. [*] You have to dock to end the level and will outright lose if your home ship is destroyed on the way home. That doesn't seem quite right to me. [*] Expect to grind in Survival mode for Money to buy ships. Play on Hard to keep it interesting, Normal is soul crushing. [*] Friendly ships are comically helpless. One mission has you rushing across an asteroid field to fight a huge station, but 4 fighters are enough to destroy your home base. It's frustrating and doesn't add much. YOU will be doing all the heavy lifting, and your allies are there to ruin your day. Frankly, they'd be more useful staying home. [*] The game is translated into English, but some translations need work. For example, the earlier Energy being your HP. You might think losing all shields will kill you, nope! You have to lose all your energy first. Energy should be called Hull or Health or something. [*] [B]COLLISIONS ARE ON[/B]. You do not fly over or under larger ships, the game just assumes you plow into them headlong. This causes enormous damage. [/list] I know that's a big list, but I did enjoy this simple arcade game. I look forward to seeing what else this developer makes.